ABSTRACT

Blu-ray

is the name of a next-generation optical disc

format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of

the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media
manufacturers.The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and
playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of
data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of
traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB
on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced
video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD
experience. While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVDR,
DVDRW, and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the
new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite
the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made
backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a
BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit.Blu ray also promises some
added security, making ways for copyright protections. Blu-ray discs can
have a unique ID written on them to have copyright protection inside the
recorded streams. Blu .ray disc takes the DVD technology one step further,
just by using a laser with a nice color.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

LIST OF TABLES.....

iii

LIST OF FIGURES...

iv

LIST OF SYMBOLS

INTRODUCTION

1.1

What is a blu-ray disc?............

1.2

Why the name blu-ray?...

1.3

Who developed blu-ray?

BLU-RAY TECHNOLOGY
2.1

Introduction to Blu-ray technology

2.2

Optimization of the cover layer thickness

2.3

Laser technology

Diodes .

2.4

Hard-Coating technology...

11

2.5

Contribution of high NA to the large capacity...

12

2.6

Disc structure.......

14

2.3.1

SPECIFICATION OF BLU-RAY

18

3.1

Technical Details

18

3.2

Formats

19

3.3

Data rate.

19

3.4

Codecs.

19

3.5

Variations

20

3.6

Compatibility

20

3.7

Recorders

21

3.8

Security Features...

21

OTHER CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES

23

4.1

Current storage devices.....

23

4.2

Blu-ray vs VHS...................

23

4.3

Blu-ray vs other storage devices..................

23

4.3.1

Comparison between BD & DVD

24

NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES

26

5.1

Blu-ray Vs HD-DVD.

26

5.2

Upcoming of rivals.

26

5.3

HD DVD as a contestee..

26

5.4

Comparison of formats...

27

LATEST NEWS....

29

CONCLUSION. 33
REFERENCES ..

34

.LIST

OF TABLES.

3.1 Technical specification of Blu-ray.

18

4.1

Comparing BDROM & DVDROM.

24

5.1

Comparing Blu-ray & HDDVD.

28

LIST OF FIGURES

1.1

Blu-ray logo

2.1

CD vs DVD vs BD

2.2

Evolution of pakage media for movie

2.3

Numerical Aperture

2.4

Aberration caused by disc inclination.

2.5

Cd vs dvd vs BD recording.

2.6 Blu-ray disc cross section.

12

2.7

High capacity contribution.

13

2.8

Necessity of 0.1 mm cover layer.

14

2.9

Single layer disc.

15

2.10 Dual layer disc.

16

2.11 Focussing the laser beam in a dual layer disc.

17

3.1

A blu-ray disc on a blu-ray disc player.

21

6.1

U .S. BD Software Sales Comparison Jan-Apr 2007v. Jan-Apr 2008

29

6.2 Hitachi Camcorder

30

6.3 VAIO Blu-ray Disc Revolution

31

LIST OF SYMBOLS
GB

Giga Byte. BD

Blu-ray Disc. LD
Laser Diodes. CD
Compact Disc .
VHS

Video Home System.

SD

Standard Definition.

NA

Numerical Aperture.

DVD

Digital Versatile Disc.

AOD

Advanced Optical Disc.

BDF

Blu-ray Disc Founders.

BD R

Blu-ray Disc Recordable.

BD RW

Blu-ray Disc Rewritable.

AVC

Advanced Video Coding.

BDA

Blu-ray Disc Association.

HDTV

High Definition TeleVision.

MPEG

Motion Pictures Experts Group.

BD ROM

Blu-ray Disc Read Only Memory .

AACS

Advanced Access Content System.

HD-DVD

High Definition Digital Versatile Disc .

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is a Blu-ray disc?

Blu-ray disc is a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed
by a group of leading consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu-ray Disc
Association (BDA), which succeeds the Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF). Because it
uses blue lasers, which have shorter wavelengths than traditional red lasers, it can
store substantially more data in the same amount of physical space as previous
technologies such as DVD and CD.
A current, single-sided, standard DVD can hold 4.7 GB (gigabytes) of
information. That's about the size of an average two-hour, standard-definition movie
with a few extra features. But a high-definition movie, which has a much clearer
image, takes up about five times more bandwidth and therefore requires a disc with
about five times more storage. As TV sets and movie studios make the move to high
definition, consumers are going to need playback systems with a lot more storage
capacity.
The advantage to Blu-ray is the sheer amount of information it can hold :
A single-layer Blu-ray disc, which is roughly the same size as a DVD, can hold up
to 27 GB of data that's more than two hours of high-definition video or about 13
hours of standard video.
A double-layer Blu-ray disc can store up to 54 GB, enough to hold about 4.5 hours
of high-definition video or more than 20 hours of standard video. And there are even
plans in the works to develop a disc with twice that amount of storage.
Blu-rays official logo is as shown in figure 1.1

FIGURE 1.1 Blu-ray logo

1.2 Why the name Blu-ray?

The name Blu-ray is derived from the underlying technology, which utilizes a blueviolet laser to read and write data. The name is a combination of "Blue" and optical
ray "Ray". According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the spelling of "Blu-ray" is not
a mistake. The character "e" is intentionally left out because a daily-used term cant be
registered as a trademark.
1.3 Who developed Blu-ray?
The Blu-ray Disc format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association 1BDA),
a group of leading consumer electronics and PC companies with more than 130
members from all over the world. The Board of Directors currently consists of:
Apple Computer
Inc. Dell Inc.
Helewlett Packard Company
Hitachi Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
Royal-Philips
Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
TDK
Corporation
Thomson
Multimedia Walt
Disney Pictures

2. BLU-RAY TECHNOLOGY
2.1 INTRODUCTION TO BLU-RAY TECHNOLOGY
The standards for 12-cm optical discs, CDs,DVDs, and Blu-ray
rewritable

discs (BD-RE

Standard)

were established

in 1982, 1996, and

2002,respectively. The recording capacity required by applications was the important

issue when these standards were decided (See fig 2.1). The requirement for CDs was
74 minutes of recording 2- channel audio signals and a capacity of about 800 MB. For
DVDs, the requirement as a video disc was the recording of a movie with a length of
two hours and fifteen minutes using the SD (Standard Definition) with MPEG-2
compression. The capacity was determined to be 4.7 GB considering the balance with
image quality.
In the case of the Blu-ray Disc, abbreviated as BD hereafter, a recording
of an
HDTV digital broadcast greater than two hours is needed since the BS digital
broadcast started in 2000 and terrestrial digital broadcast has begun in 2003. It was a
big motivation for us to realize the recorder using the optical disc. In a DVD recorder,
received and decoded video signals are compressed by an MPEG encoder and then
recorded on the disc.
To record in the same fashion for an HDTV broadcast, an HDTV MPEG-2
encoder
is required. However, such a device for home use has not yet been produced. In the
case of BS digital broadcasts, signals are sent as a program stream at a fixed rate,
which is 24 Mbps for one HDTV program. In the program stream of BS digital
broadcast there is a case that the additional data stream is multiplexed, and it is
desirable to record and read the data as is. Two hours of recording requires a
recording capacity of 22 GB or more. This capacity is about 5 times that of DVDs,
which cannot achieve this capacity by merely increasing their recording density.

Figure 2.1 CD vs DVD vs BD

To obtain this capacity we have developed a number of techniques such as:

employing a blue-violet laser, increasing the numerical aperture of objective lens,
making the optical beam passing substrate thin, 0.1 mm, and evenly thick, using an
aberration compensation method of pickup adapted to the substrate thickness and dual
layer discs, improving the modulation method, enhancing the ability of the error
correction circuit without sacrificing the efficiency, employing the Viterbi decoding
method for reading signals and improving the S/N ratio and the inter symbol
interference, using the on-groove recording and highly reliable wobbling address
system, developing high speed recording phase change media, etc. In addition , the
convenient functions of a recording device have also been realized in the application
formats.
These techniques are described in this paper. Furthermore, the key
concepts of the Blu-ray standard such as the reason for employing 0.1 mm thick
transparent layer and a dual layer recording disc will be described in each dedicated
chapter. Following the rewritable system, the planning of a read-only system and
write-once system has already started. In addition to high picture quality, the
introduction of core and new functions is indispensable for the spread of the next
generation package media. For example, during the switch from VHS to DVD, digital
recording and interactive functions were newly introduced. Consequently, it is

anticipated that the specifications of BD-ROM will provide a high performance

interactiveness and a connection to broadband services, reflecting the demands of the
movie industry (Fig 2.2).

FIGURE 2.2

2.2OPTIMIZATION OF THE COVER LAYER THICKNESS

Roots of a 1.2 mm substrate existed in the video disc. One of advantages
of laser discs has been that they are hardly affected by dirt or dust on the disc surface
since information is recorded and read through a cover layer. The first commercial
optical disc, which was the videodisc called VLP or Laser Disc, used a 1.2 mm thick
transparent substrate, through which information was read.This thickness was
determined from conditions such as: - Deterioration of the S/N ratio due to surface
contamination was suppressed to a minimum since it used analog recording ,
- A disc of 30 cm in diameter can be molded,

- The disc has sufficient mechanical strength,

- The disc is as thin as possible while satisfying the flatness and optical uniformity.
The last condition is because the thinner the cover layer, the more easily the
performance of the objective lens to converge the laser beam can be improved. This
convergence performance of the objective lens is expressed by what we call NA
(Numerical Aperture), and the diameter of a converging light is inversely proportional
to NA .Thus NA is required to be as large as possible. However, when the optical axis
of the objective lens shift from the perpendicular to the disc surface, a deterioration of
the convergence performance (aberration) occurs and its amount grows proportionally
to the cube of NA. Since we cannot avoid discs from tilting to some extent from the
optical axis of the objective lens due to the bending of discs or inclination of the
mounting, and it has prevented the value of NA from increasing. It is shown in figure
2.3.

FIGURE 2.3 numerical aperture

On the other hand, an aberration caused by a disc inclination is
proportional to the thickness of the cover layer. This aberration was originate in a of
the refraction angle error at the cover layer interface resulting from the disc
inclination. Further, the amount of blur in the beam spot due to the refraction angle
error is proportional to the distance between the disc surface and the focal

point as shown below in figure 2.4.

FIGURE 2.4 Aberration caused by disc inclination

When the disc tilts refraction angle error, which is deviation from
ideal angle to form an ideal light spot, occurs at the disc surface. This refraction angle
error causes aberration at the focal point. Then the aberration is in proportion to the
distance between disc surface and the focal point, i.e., the aberration is in proportion
to thickness of cover layer.

2.3 LASER TECHNOLOGY

The technology utilizes a "blue" (actually blue-violet) laser diode operating at a
wavelength of 405 nm to read and write data. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red
and infrared lasers at 650 nm and 780 nm respectively.
As a color comparison, the visible color of a powered fluorescent black
light tube is dominated by mercury's bluish violet emissions at 435.8 nm. The blueviolet laser diodes used in Blu-ray Disc drives operate at 405 nm, which is noticeably

more violet (closer to the violet end of the spectrum) than the visible light from a
black light. A side effect of the very short wavelength is that it causes many materials
to fluoresce, and the raw beam does appear as whitish-blue if shone on a white
fluorescent surface (such as a piece of paper). While future disc technologies may use
fluorescent media, Blu-ray Disc systems operate in the same manner as CD and DVD
systems and do not make use of fluorescence effects to read out their data.
The blue-violet laser has a shorter wavelength than CD or DVD systems,
and this shrinking makes it possible to store more information on a 12 cm (CD/DVD
size) disc. The minimum "spot size" that a laser can be focused is limited by
diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture
(NA) of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength (moving toward the
violet end of the spectrum), using a higher NA (higher quality) dual-lens system, and
making the disk thinner (to avoid unwanted optical effects), the laser beam can be
focused much tighter at the disk surface. This produces a smaller spot on the disc, and
therefore allows more information to be physically contained in the same area.In
addition to optical movements, Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding,
closer track and pit spacing, allowing for even more data to be packed in.this is shown
in figure 2.5 below.

Figure 2.5 cd vs dvd vs BD recording

2.3.1 DIODE
A laser diode is a laser where the active medium is a semiconductor p-n
junction
similar to that found in a light-emitting diode. Laser diodes are sometimes referred to
(somewhat redundantly) as injection laser diodes or by the acronyms LD or ILD.
(a) PRINCIPAL OF OPERATION
When a diode is forward biased, holes from the p-region are injected into the
n-region, and electrons from the n-region are injected into the p-region. If electrons
and holes are present in the same region, they may radiatively recombinethat is, the
electron "falls into" he hole and emits a photon with the energy of the band gap . This
is called spontaneous emission, and is the main source of light in a light-emitting
diode.
Under suitable conditions, the electron and the hole may coexist in the same

area for quite some time (on the order of microseconds) before they recombine. If a
photon f exactly the right frequency happens along within this time period,
recombination may be stimulated by the photon. This causes another photon of the
same frequency to be emitted, with exactly the same direction, polarization and phase
as the first photon.
In a laser diode, the semiconductor crystal is fashioned into a shape
somewhat like a piece of papervery thin in one direction and rectangular in the
other two. The of
the crystal is n-doped, and the bottom is p-doped, resulting in a large, flat p-n
junction. The two ends of the crystal are cleaved so as to form a perfectly smooth,
parallel edges; two reflective parallel edges are called a Fabry-Perot cavity. Photons
emitted in precisely the right direction will be reflected several times from each end
face before they are emitted. Each time they pass through the cavity, the light is
amplified by stimulated emission. Hence, if there is more amplification than loss, the
diode begins to "lase"
(b) TYPES OF LASER IODES
(i) Double heterostructure lasers
In these devices, a layer of low band gap material is sandwiched between
two
high band gap layers. One commonly used pair of materials is GaAs with AlGaAs.
Each of the junctions between different band gap materials is called a heterostructure,
hence the name "double heterostructure laser" or DH laser. The kind of laser diode
described in the first part of the article is referred to as a "homojunction" laser, for
contrast with these more popular devices.
The advantage of a DH laser is that the region where free electrons and
holesexist simultaneouslythe "active" regionis confined to the thin middle layer.
This means that many more of the electron-hole pairs can contribute to amplification
not so many are left out in the poorly amplifying periphery. In addition, light is
reflected from the heterojunction; hence, the light is confined to the region where the
amplification takes place.

ii) Quantum well lasers

If the middle layer is made thin enough, it starts acting like a quantum
well.This means that in the vertical direction, electron energy is quantized. The
difference between quantum well energy levels can be used for the laser action
instead of the band gap. This is very useful since the wavelength of light emitted can
be tuned simply by altering the thickness of the layer. The efficiency of a quantum
well laser is greater than that of a bulk laser due to a tailoring of the distribution of
electrons and holes that are involved in the stimulated emission (light producing)
process.
The problem with these devices is that the thin layer is simply too small to
effectively confine the light. To compensate, another two layers are added on, outside
the first three. These layers have a lower refractive index than the center layers, and
hence confine the light effectively. Such a design is called a separate confinement
heterostructure (SCH) laser diode. Almost all commercial laser diodes since the 1990s
have been SCH quantum well diodes

2.4 HARD-COATING TECHNOLOGY

The entry of TDK to the BDF (as it was then), announced on 19 March
2004,was accompanied by a number of indications that could significantly improve
the outlook for Blu-ray. TDK is to introduce hard-coating technologies that would
enable bare disk (caddyless) handling, along with higher-speed recording heads and
multi-layer recording technology (to increase storage densities).TDK's hard coating
technique would give BDs scratch resistance and allow them to be cleaned of
fingerprints with only a tissue, a procedure that would leave scratches on current CDs
and DVDs. It is shown in figure 2.6.

FIGURE 2.6 Blu-ray disc cross section

2.5 CONTRIBUTION OF HIGH NA TO THE LARGE CAPACITY
Like the BD-RE system, the pick up head for BD-ROM uses a high
numerical aperture (NA) lens of 0.85 and a 405 nm blue laser. In early BD-RE
systems the high NA was realized by using 2 lenses in combination. Today many
single lenses with working distance larger than 0.5mm have been developed, and even
lenses which can be used in DVD/BD compatible pick ups and CD/DVD/BD
compatible pick ups have been developed.
Figure 2.7 shows that the high NA lens increases the areal density by 2
times while the blue laser contributes an additional factor of 2.6 times compared to
the areal density of DVD. In total, the Blu-ray spot size is less than 1/5 that of DVD,
resulting in more than 5 times the capacity of DVD.

Fig 2.7: High capacity contribution

Optical beam degradation occurs due to the disc tilt. This degradation
is
proportional to NA3 and the thickness of the cover layer. We selected 0.1 mm as the
thickness of the cover layer, achieving more than +- 1.60 deg for the radial tilt margin
for BD-ROM, which is similar to that of DVD-ROM.
Figure 2.8 shows that the high NA lens increases the areal density by 2
times while the blue laser contributes an additional factor of 2.6 times compared to
the areal density of DVD. In total, the Blu-ray spot size is less than 1/5 that of DVD,
resulting in more than 5 times the capacity of DVD. Optical beam degradation occurs
due to the disc tilt. This degradation is proportional to NA3 and the thickness of the
cover layer. We selected 0.1 mm as the thickness of the cover layer, achieving more
than +- 1.60 deg for the radial tilt margin for BD-ROM, which is similar to that of
DVD-ROM.

FIGURE 2.8

.
2.6 DISC STRUCTURE

Configuration of Single Layer and Dual Layer Discs

Figure 2.9 shows the outline of a Single Layer BD Read-Only disc and Figure
shows the outline of a Dual Layer BD Read-Only disc. To improve scratch resistance,
the cover layer can optionally be protected with an additional hard coat layer. One of
the features that differentiate Blu-ray Disc from DVD recording systems is the
position of the recording layer within the disc.
For DVD, the recording layer is sandwiched between two 0.6-mm thick layers
of plastic typically polycarbonate. The purpose of this is to shift surface scratches,
fingerprints and dust particles to a position in the optical pathway where they have
negligible effect - i.e. well away from the point of focus of the laser. However,
burying the recording layer 0.6 mm below the surface of the disc also has
disadvantages.
Due to the injection molding process used to produce them, disc substrates suffer
from

stress-induced birefringence, which means that they split the single incident laser light
into two separate beams. If this splitting is excessive, the drive cannot read data
reliably from the disc. Consequently, the injection molding process has always been a
very critical part of CD and DVD production.
Another critical manufacturing tolerance, particularly for DVDs, is the
flatness of the disc, because the laser beam becomes distorted if the disc surface is not
perpendicular to the beam axis - a condition referred to as disc tilt. This distortion
increases as the thickness of the cover layer increases and also increases for higher
numericalTo overcome these disadvantages, the recording layer in a Blu-ray Disc sits
on the surface of a 1.1-mm thick plastic substrate, protected by a 0.1-mm thick cover
layer.
With the substrate material no longer in the optical pathway, birefringence problems
are eliminated. In addition, the closer proximity of the recording layer to the drive's
objective lens reduces disc tilt sensitivity. This only leaves the problem of surface
scratching and fingerprints, which can be prevented by applying a specifically
FIGURE 2.9 Single Layer Disc

Dual Layer Disc

Figure 2.10 shows the outline of a Dual Layer BD Read-Only disc. To improve
scratch resistance, the cover layer can optionally be protected with an additional hard

coat layer. The different layers are shown. A spacing layer is used to separate the two
information discs.Also The different transmission stack are shown

FIGURE 2.10 Dual layer disc

Focusing in a Blu-ray disc is done as in figure 2.11 . there will be a
semi transparent layer in between the two recording layers. Inside the disc player ,
there will be a focusing mechanism , that could actually calculate the number of
layers in the disc . The disc read is done by focusing at the correct layer by using the
focusing mechanism and an optical pickup unit is there which could receive the
reflected ray back from the data layer while reading

Figure 2.11 focussing the laser beam in a dual layer disc.

.

3 . SPECIFICATIONS OF BLU-RAY
3.1 TECHNICAL DETAILS
The table 3.1 below shows the technical specification of Blu-Ray
25 GB (SINGLE LAYER)
RECORDING CAPACITY
50 GB (DUAL LAYER)
Laser wavelength:
Lens numerical aperture
(NA):

405nm (blue-violet laser)

0.85

Data transfer rate:

36Mbps

Disc diameter:

120mm

Disc thickness:

1
.2mm
(optical
transmittance
protection layer: 0.1 mm)

Recording format:

Phase change recording

Tracking format:

Groove recording

Tracking pitch:

0.32um

Shortest pit length:

0.160/0.149/0.138um

Recording phase density:

16.8/1 8.0/1 9.5Gbit/inch2

Video recording format

MPEG2 video

Audio recording format:

AC3, MPEG1, Layer2, etc.

Video and
format:

audio

multiplexing MPEG2 transport stream

TABLE 3.1

3.2 FORMATS
Unlike DVDs and CDs, which started with read-only formats and only
later added recordable and re-writable formats, Blu-ray is initially designed in several
different formats:
BD-ROM (read-only) - for pre-recorded content
BD-R (recordable) - for PC data storage
BD-RW (rewritable) - for PC data storage
BD-RE (rewritable) - for HDTV recording
3.3 DATA RATE
For high-definition movies a much higher data rate is needed than for
standard definition. With the BD formats choices for both NA and wavelength we
have been able to realize a format with 5X higher data rate while only doubling the
rotation rate of DVD-ROM discs. The following numbers offer a comparison: Data
bit length: 111.75 nm (25GB) (267 nm for DVD) Linear velocity: 7.367 m/s (Movie
application) (3.49 m/s for DVD). User data transfer rate: 53.948 Mbit/s (Movie
application) (10.08 Mbps for DVD) The BD system has the potential for future higher
speed drives.
The BD-RE (rewritable) standard is now available; to be followed by the
BD-R (recordable) and BD-ROM formats in mid-2004, as part of version 2.0 of the
Blu-ray specifications. Looking further ahead in time, Blu-ray Discs with capacities
of 100GB and 200GB are currently being researched, with these capacities achieved
by using four and eight layers respectively.
3.4 CODECS
The BD-ROM format will likely include 3 codecs: MPEG-2 (the standard
used for DVDs), MPEG-4's H.264/AVC codec, and VC-1 based on Microsoft's
Windows Media 9 codec. The first codec only allows for about two hours of storage
on a single layer Blu-ray Disc, but with the addition of the latter two more advanced
codecs, a single-layer disc can hold almost four hours. Highdefinition MPEG-2 has a

data rate of about 50Mbps, while the latter two have data rates of about 36Mbps for
video and 3Mbps for audio.
BD-RE (and by extension BD-R) does not currently support any advanced
codecs beyond MPEG-2. Because MPEG-2 is currently used to broadcast HDTV,
recorders write this HD stream directly to a disc. Since there are no consumer level
recorders capable of real-time transcoding from the MPEG-2 used for broadcasting
and any other codec that might be used for BDRE, MPEG-2 is the only format
supported by BD-RE. Encoding methods for the audio stream include Linear PCM,
Dolby Digital, DTS and dts++ (loss less compression). The Blu-ray Disc Association
is known to be looking into other codecs superior to those supported by the DVD
specification.
3.5 VARIATIONS
An 8 cm BD specification has been finalized and approved. A one-sided,
singlelayer 8 cm BD can hold 15 GB, giving it the capacity of one and a half regular
sized (12 cm) single sided double layer DVDs. This would be an ideal format for
small, portable devices, such as portable Movie players and digital video cameras. A
new hybrid Blu-ray / DVD combo disc has been developed by JVC and is awaiting
acceptance by the Blu-ray Disc Association. This would allow both normal DVD
players and Blu-ray players to utilize the disc .Users would be able to purchase a
single disc that can play
at either high definition or standard DVD quality, depending on the hardware utilized.
Users that do not have a Blu-ray disc player can view the video content at standard
definition using their current DVD player, and enjoy the same content at high
definition resolution when upgrading to a Blu-ray disc player in the future.

3.6 COMPATIBILITY
The BDA announced that, while it was not compulsory for manufacturers,
Blu-ray lasers and drives are capable of reading the various DVD formats, ensuring
backward compatibility. This makes the upgrade more attractive to consumers as it
does not require replacing their collections of DVDs.

3.7 RECORDERS
The first Blu-ray recorder was unveiled by Sony on March 3, 2003, and was
introduced to the Japanese market in April that year. On September 1, 2003, JVC and
Samsung Electronics announced Blu-ray based products at DFA in Berlin, Germany.
3.8 SECURITY FEATURES.
Blu-ray Security is Tough to Crack
Even though this is not always good for consumers, this is an mportant point Sony has
for the movie studios. Movie studios want their content locked from the pirates and
BDs security and encryption features just help them do it in the most advanced way.

Figure 3.1 a Blu-ray disc on a Blue ray disc player.

Blu-ray has three layers of protection called AACS, BD+ and ROM mark.
AACS
The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) is digital rights management feature
that prevents any un-authorized copying of content from BD discs.
AACS uses an encryption technology called Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
AACS is more advanced than earlier DRM used in DVDs. The difference with AACS
is that each licensed player is given a unique set of decryption keys that licensors can
revoke whenever they feel it has been compromised. By revoking a decryption key,
the particular player will not be able to play any future HD content. Thus
discouraging any attempt to decrypt the key.
BD+
-

BD+ is a safeguard against future cracks and hacks. It is a kind of and advanced
DRM. Every authorized player will have a BD+ virtual machine that will decode the
disc content to correct version. The advantage of BD+ is that it is dynamic and hence
content providers can change the security feature whenever they wish. Thus, different
Discs will have different encryption and therefore no single fix would help them play
all BD discs.
ROM Mark
ROM mark was designed to prevent unwanted duplication of BD Discs. ROM Mark
helps to create unique Discs that cannot be copied using software. This BD Discs will
have a unique ID that are created with a specific BD licensed writer drive. No
licensed BD players will work unless the inserted disc has a ROM mark. Therefore,
without specialized equipments, you cannot copy a ROM Marked BD disc.

4. OTHER CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES.

4.1 CURRENT STORAGE DEVICES
Some of the popular storage devices that are available in the market include:
Analog Storage Technology
VHS
Digital Storage Technology
Floppy Disc
Compact Disc (CD)
Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

4.2 BLU-RAY Vs VHS

The Blu-ray Disc recorder represents a major leap forward in video recording
technology as it enables recording of high-definition television (HDTV). It also offers
a lot of new innovative features not possible with a traditional VCR:
Random access, instantly jump to any spot on the disc
Searching, quickly browse and preview recorded programs in real-time
Create play lists, change the order of recorded programs and edit recorded video
Automatically find an empty space to avoid recording over programs
Simultaneous recording and playback of video (enables Time slip/Chasing
playback)
Enhanced interactivity, enables more advanced programs and games
Broadband enabled, access web content, download subtitles and extras
Improved picture, ability to record high-definition television (HDTV)
Improved sound, ability to record surround sound (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc)

4.3 BLU-RAY Vs OTHER STORAGE DEVICES

The storage capacity of different digital storage technology varies a lot.
A
usually used version of floppy disc has a capacity of 1.44MB while that of a CD is
700 MB & for DVD it is 4.7 GB. Also they have varying shell lives out of these DVD
has the

maximum. A DVD is very similar to a CD, but it has a much larger data capacity. A
standard DVD holds about seven times more data than a CD does. This huge capacity
means that a DVD has enough room to store a full-length, MPEG-2-encoded movie,
as well as a lot of other information. DVD can also be used to store almost eight hours
of CD-quality music per side. DVD is composed of several layers of plastic, totaling
about 1.2 millimeters thick. Each layer is created by injection molding polycarbonate
plastic.
4.3.1 COMPARISON OF BD AND DVD

A disc in the DVD format can currently hold 4.7 gigabytes of data. Unlike
DVD technology, which uses red lasers to etch data onto the disc, the Blu-ray
disc
technology uses a blue-violet laser to record information.

PARAMETERS

BD-ROM

DVD-ROM

Storage
capacity
(single-layer)

25 GB

4.7 GB

Storage
(dual-layer)

50 GB

7.4 GB

405 nm

650 nm

0.85

0.60

0.1mm

0.6mm

_ Laser

capacity

wavelength

Numerical
(NA)

aperture

Protection layer

Data transfer rate (1x)

36.0Mbps
TABLE 4.1

11.08Mbps

The blue-violet laser has a shorter wavelength than the red lasers do, and with
its smaller area of focus, it can fetch more data into the recording area . The digital
information is fetched on the discs in the form of microscopic pits. These pits are
arranged in a continuous spiral track from the inside to the outside.
Using a red laser, with 650 nm wavelength, we can only store 4.7 GB on a
single
sided DVD. TV recording time is only one hour in best quality mode, and two, three
or four hours with compromised pictures. Data capacity is inadequate for non-stop
backup of a PC hard drive. The data transfer rate, around 10 Mbps, is not fast enough
for high quality video.

5.NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES

5.1 BLU-RAY Vs HD-DVD
Next generation optical disc format developed by Toshiba and NEC.
The
format is quite different from Blu-ray, but also relies heavily on blue-laser technology
to
achieve a higher storage capacity. The read-only discs (HD DVD-ROM) will hold
15GB and 30GB, the rewritable discs(HD DVD-RW) will hold 20GB and 32GB,
while the recordable discs (HD DVD-R) won't support dual-layer discs, so they will
be limited to 15GB. The format is being developed within the DVD Forum as a
possible successor to the current DVD technology.
5.2 UPCOMING OF RIVALS
The technology is proven, but that's no guarantee of a smooth migration.
Already, a standards war much like those that have broken out over every major
medium
since the videocassette is threatening this latest optical innovation. The nine
electronics
companies, led by Sony, Pioneer, and Matsushita Electric Industrial, unveiled a
standard
format dubbed the Blu-ray Disc, which incorporates blue-violet laser technology and
sets
the recording capacity of the disks between 23 and 25 gigabytes per side. Within the
coalition, Sony, Matsushita, and Hitachi have demonstrated prototypes of lasers that
meet the requirements.
5.3 HD DVD AS A CONTESTEE
The group (BDF), however, faces competition on several fronts. On one side
stands Toshiba Corp, which has refused to endorse the Blue-ray Disc. That's troubling
because in the early 1990s, Toshiba led the alliance of electronics and film companies
that produced the standard for today's DVD systems, trouncing a competing effort by

Sony and Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands. Earlier this year, Toshiba,
which continues to head the DVD Forum, demonstrated its own rewritable optical
disk, boasting a capacity of 30 GB per side. And Toshiba is not the only holdout:
Mitsubishi Electric and AOL Time Warner, both important members of the DVD
Forum, have yet to join the Blue-ray Disc group. The Toshiba is developing another
kind of disc using the BLUE LASER Technology under name AOD (Advanced
Optical Disc) more popularly known as HD DVD (High Definition DVD).And this
technology is also backed up by the DVD Forum similar to the BDF Toshiba has
developed an alternative version and NEC and a provisional specification approved
by the DVD Forum. The original name was AOD (Advanced Optical Disc).
There are three versions in development.
1. HD DVD-ROM discs are pre-recorded and offer a capacity of 15 GB per layer per
side. These can be used for distributing HD movies.
2. HD DVD-RW discs are re-writable and can be used to record 20 GB per side for
re- writable versions.
3. HD DVD-R discs are write-once recordable format discs with a capacity of
15 GB per side.
Like Blu-ray discs they need a blue laser of 405 nm wavelength, but are physically
similar to DVD discs, as they use a cover layer of 0.6 mm. Therefore HD DVD
discs can be manufactured using existing DVD lines, and existing UV mastering
equipment.

5.4 COMPARISON OF FORMATS

The following table provides a comparison of the two formats . It is not yet clear
which format will win. Blu-ray currently seems to have the most support, but HD
DVD
presents fewer manufacturing problems, particularly for pre-recorded versions. HD
DVD can be mastered and replicated with current equipment, while Blu-ray requires
new equipment and processes for both.

PARAMETERS

BD

Storage capacity

25GB

Number of layers

Single
layer

Laser wavelength

405nm

Numerical
(NA)

aperture 0.85

BD

HDDVD

50 GB

15 GB

- Dual
layer

Single
layer

HD-DVD
30 GB

- Dual layer

405nm

405nm

405nm

0.85

0.65

0.65

Protection layer

0..l mm

0..l mm

0.6mm

0.6mm

Data transfer rate

54.0Mbps

54.0Mbps

36.5Mbps

36.5Mbps

MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVC
VC-1

MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVC
VC-1

MPEG-2
AVC
MPEG-4

MPEG-2
AVC
MPEG-4

Video compression

TABLE 5. Comparison between BD & HD DVD

6. LATEST NEWS
Blu-ray makes large gains in US Home Entertainment market
Blu-ray recorder sales boom in Japan and debut in Australia
Universum Film launches Germanys first BD-Live enabled disc
Chinese companies authorized to develop Blu-ray products
The Blu-ray Disc Association US Promotions Committee has released market
intelligence that indicates very significant in-roads being made by the Blu-ray Disc
format in North America. The data indicates that although hardware supplies are
limited at retail, demand is extremely high for both BD hardware and software.
According to a study released by market analyst, , on June 3 almost four million US
HDTV owners plan to buy a BD-capable disc player in the next six months. The study
also reports that amongst consumers who purchased a Blu-ray Disc set-top player the
majority cited leading-edge technology and a superior viewing experience as
primary reasons for making the purchase. Consumers stated a clear preference for
Blu-ray content. At the same time Sony Computer Entertainment America has
announced the results of an internal survey conducted during the first half of May
2008 amongst almost 3,000 US
PLAYSTATION3 (PS3) owners.
5000000
4500000
4000000
3500000
3000000

2007

2500000

2008

2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

JAN-APR

FIGURE 6.1 U.S. BD Software Sales Comparison Jan-Apr 2007 v. Jan-Apr 2008

Hitachi launches Worlds First Blu-Ray Disc Camcorders to transform

home movies into full high definition masterpieces.
Hitachi will give home movies the Hollywood treatment with the launch of its two
Blu-ray disc camcorders, the worlds first camcorders to store home movies in
1920x1080 Full HD on Blu-ray disc media and the worlds first to provide a truly
end-to-end Full HD solution from capture, storage to output. The result? Captured
memories that
have the same intensity, clarity and emotion as the moment they occurred - a totally
unsurpassed audio visual experience, offering viewers the next best thing to reality
itself. camcorders will be equipped with an 8cm Blu-ray disc drive for Full HD
1920x1080 recording, the worlds highest resolution 5.3 megapixel CMOS sensor,
Hybrid Blu-ray disc + HDD technology, Picture Master Full HD processing and
HDMI connectivity. In summary, capture, storage and output of movies will be in a
totally unique end-to-end Full HD process.
Figure

6.2

Hitachi

Camcorder
SIGMA MEDIA PROCESSOR TO POWER SHARPS AQUOS LINE OF
BLU-RAY DISC PLAYERS & RECORDERS
Sigma Designs a leading provider of highly integrated systems-ona-chip (SoC) solutions, today announced that its highly integrated SMP8634
media processor was selected by Sharp Corporation to power its new line of
AQUOS

Blu-ray

disc

players

and

recorders.

Figure 6.3 VAIO Blu-ray Disc Revolution

Sharps new products include the BD-AV1 and AV10 Series for the
Japanese market and the recently introduced slim-profile AQUOS BD player, model
BDHP20U, the companys first offering in the U.S. market.Sharps new series of
AQUOS Blu-ray disc recorders BD-AV1 and AV10 enable recording and playback of
digital broadcasts of HDTV programs that capture the same high-resolution image
quality of broadcast TV that VCR users are accustomed to experiencing. AQUOS also
offers full
compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback, matching the native filming
format for most movies as well as HDMI output support of 1080/24p video and Dolby
trueHD, and an i.LINK (IEEE1394) input for connecting to a Sharp AQUOS Highision recorder. Sony VAIO launched the worlds first notebook with an integrated
Blu-ray Disc Drive complete with recording capabilities. Now the VAIO range of
products is changing in readiness for the move to a High Definition future.
SONY BOLSTERS BLU-RAY DISC PLAYER LINE WITH TWO NEW
MODELS
Sony introduced two additional Blu-ray Disc (BD) players
today offering a full range of features.Optimized for the home theater enthusiast, the
new BDP-S2000ES model is the first Blu-ray Disc player in Sonys Elevated
Standard (ES) line. This model, as well as the new BDP-S500, which complements
Sonys current BDP-S300 BD player, features full high-definition 1080/60p and 24p

True Cinema output. They support 7.1 channel linear PCM and Dolby TrueHD,
Dolby Digital Plus, as well as dts-HD High Resolution Audio bitstream output
via HDMI (ver1.3).US Blu-ray market set for strong growth, so says Entertainment
Merchants Association
Pioneer introduces four new Blu-ray Disc players in Europe
arvato digital services granted BDA certification
Burn to BD on your Mac with a little help from MCE Technologies
Norways first native Blu-ray Disc its a shocker!
Corel Announces WinDVD(R) is the World's First Blu-ray Disc Playback
Software to Receive BD-Video Profile 1.1 Certification WinDVD(R) now
supports BD-Video Profile 1.1 for high-definition, picture-in-picture
playback on Blu-ray Discs.

7. CONCLUSION
Today consumers are searching for faster transfer speeds and
large storage capacity .These two are the most notable advantages of BD technology.
So BD will be a good option for such peoples.
According to the EMA (Entertainment Merchant Association) in
U.S, by the end of 2012, sales of Blu-ray Discs will surpass those of standard
definition storage medias , generating sales of a whopping $9.5 billion. Home video
spending on the whole has been projected to grow exponentially to $25.6 billion in
2012. These shows the increasing demand for Blu-ray products. The manufacturers of
Blu-ray discs are further trying to increase the number of layers in a single disc so that
a four layer disc stores 100GB of data , 8 layer disc stores about 200 GB of data,
likewise.
It's possible that the industry is headed to a point where BD sales
will one day outstrip DVDs. It's too early to call the game just yet , but this will be an
interesting technological development to follow.

REFERENCES

http://www.Blu-ray.com/faq/

http://www.Blu-ray.com/movies/ - Latest Blu-ray

- Blu-ray FAQ

Releases .

http://www.Blu-raydisc.com/ - Official Blu-ray website.

http://www.Blu-raystats.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc - Wikipedia

- Blu-ray Stats Website

entry on Blu-ray disc.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/Blu-ray.htm how stuff works entry on blu-ray discs.